1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method to control a cooling circuit, with the cooling circuit comprising at least three evaporators, which are fluid connected to the cooling circuit in a parallel connection in individual paths, with each of the paths containing one shut-off valve, through which the flow of the refrigerant, which is circulating through the specific path, can be metered or cut off, where the shut-off valves can be activated or deactivated individually, with the individual evaporators being operative when the shut-off valve located within the specific path of the individual evaporator permits fluid flow.
2. Description of the Background Art
Modern automobile vehicles usually feature a first evaporator, which can be used for cooling purposes for the front passengers, and a second evaporator, which can be used for cooling purposes for the rear passengers. The evaporators are fluid connected to a fluid circuit, in which a refrigerant fluid circulates. Furthermore this fluid circuit usually features a compressor to compress the refrigerant fluid. The evaporators can be arranged in a parallel connection or in a series connection.
In some vehicles, especially in electric-vehicles or hybrid-vehicles, the need for additional cooling loads came up in the past. The additional cooling loads are mainly needed for the electric components e.g. the traction batteries or other power electronics. Batteries usually have to be kept at a certain temperature level to maintain a high performance level. Therefore it might be necessary to heat the battery or even more important to cool down the battery.
US patent application US 2011/0000241 A1 features three evaporators that are connected to one or more cooling circuits.
However the solutions known in the conventional art have certain disadvantages. One of these disadvantages is the need for more complex control systems to regulate the flow of the refrigerant within the cooling circuits. Furthermore it is disadvantageous that the compressor of the cooling circuit needs to be adapted to the higher refrigerant volume within the cooling circuit and to the higher compression load, which comes along with the higher refrigerant volume.